And, you might want your puppy to avoid these types of behaviors.

Separation Anxiety – Teaching your puppy to be comfortable when left alone or physically separated from you can help prevent or aid in the treatment of separation anxiety.

Resource Guarding – When your puppy begins to guard his prized possessions (food, treats, bones, toys, etc.) from people or dogs using behaviors such as growling, snapping, or biting. Puppies learn good things happen when their high-value resources are taken away, so they are not threatened when someone approaches their resources.

Potty Training problems – Setting your puppy up to be successful from the beginning is the best way to build strong habits of going potty in the right places.

Aggression – Positive exposure to people and other dogs helps puppies learn how to properly interpret body language of other dogs and interactions with people so they understand when other dogs don’t pose a threat and how to play appropriately. Interacting with other puppies at a young age, and learning a variety of play styles gives dogs the best chance at growing up to be social adults.

Fear – Early, positive exposure to a variety of novel situations, objects, surfaces helps grow a puppy’s confidence, teaching him the coping skills he will need to engage in new experiences as an adult.

Excessive excitability – Teaching puppies how to relax and focus on their humans helps them learn to control themselves when things get exciting. Early exposure to novelty and opportunities to engage in plenty of mental stimulation also helps puppies avoid overstimulation.

Destruction – Chewing and biting are normal puppy behaviors. But, puppies need to learn basic manners while their people learn how to manage their environment so their puppy biting and chewing behaviors don’t become bad habits in the future.

Training your puppy at an early age helps to prevent these types of problem behaviors.

Puppy class can help.

The most important period for socialization and exposure to new experiences is during the first three months of a dog’s life. This is also the perfect time to teach your puppy new behaviors and proactively prevent bad habits. Learn how to join a puppy class in San Diego by clicking here. (If your puppy is older, don’t worry! You can join a Foundation class and get started.)

Puppy classes are open enrollment classes, so you can start as soon as you’re ready. Review the Group Class information page for more details about puppy class schedule, pricing, and class requirements. Puppy classes are held in San Diego in the Normal Heights and Little Italy neighborhoods.